Koved called one of the guards to take the king’s horse and asked him to follow. He led him. to a small house they were using as a meeting point to keep a closer watch on the port and all the ships docking at the pier. Upon entering, the guards there bowed to the king. Koved led the king to a room they were using as an office, showed him a map on the table, pointed to a few spots marked with an X, and said, “So far, we’ve checked all these places, but we haven’t had any luck.”
“Keep looking. Today I will join you. Catching them must be our top priority.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
***
Abril stayed in bed all morning. At noon, two maids came to help her dress. Abril felt sticky after such an intense night and asked the maids to prepare a bath. As they helped her bathe, they noticed several kiss marks scattered over Abril’s body. One of them said, “It seems Her Majesty is very loved by the king.”
“What?”
“The king is very kind to Her Majesty and cares a lot about her. This morning he ordered us to take good care of his wife.”
“Did he really say that?”
“Yes, one of the maids who was around told us.”
One of the maids was rinsing Abril’s hair while the other sponged her arm and said, “Her Majesty is very beautiful; it’s no wonder the king is so in love.”
Abril stared at her reflection in the water and asked, “Am I really beautiful?”
“Of course, Your Majesty is very lovely.”
After the maids finished bathing her, combing her hair, and dressing her, they guided her to the dining room. These maids were very kind and courteous to Abril, which surprised her a lot. They were nothing like the maids in the palace, who had always been rude and malicious.
Although their attitude had changed since the death of the maid who had tried to kill her, she still felt uncomfortable under their gazes.
But she knew perfectly well why these maids were so kind. Lady Elizabeth had explained it to her once: the more loved and respected a wife was by her husband, the more authority and respect she received from the servants. Although she didn’t believe the king felt love for her, he had become very kind to her. So, she didn’t care if his feelings for her were real or just a lie; she only hoped it wouldn’t change. If it did, she didn’t want to go back to being the forgotten wife. She didn’t want to face the hatred and contempt of the man who had made her his woman and who would be the father of her child in the future. Unconsciously, she touched her belly and wondered when she would become pregnant and if that would bring any change to her relationship with the king.
She was sharing a room with Alessandro because he wanted an heir, but when that happened, she wondered if she would have to move rooms and if he would stop visiting her at night. Abril realized something at that moment: she had become too accustomed to being with Alessandro and sleeping in his arms. Abril felt a pang in her heart at the thought of being alone again and wished that wouldn’t happen, that the day wouldn’t come when she had to be alone again.
When Abril arrived at the dining room, she greeted Cassian and took her place at the table. Throughout the meal, she seemed downcast, as if something was bothering her. Cassian. noticed this and thought it was because Abril missed Alessandro, who would be away all day. This realization pained him, as it became clear that Abril had also fallen in love with his brother. For Cassian, it meant there would never be a chance for him. Wanting to cheer her up, Cassian suggested, “It’s a beautiful day, and the garden here is lovely and quite unique. Why don’t we go for a walk?”
Abril nodded, wanting to set aside all those thoughts. It was useless to dwell on what might happen in the future. She stood up and said, “I’d love to go for a walk.”
The sun was very strong outside, so one of the maids brought Abril a wide-brimmed hat and a small umbrella. When they arrived at the garden, Abril was amazed. The garden was filled with white flowers of all kinds, not a single flower clashed in that beautiful garden. She smiled and asked, “It really is a unique garden. Why are there only white flowers?”
“My father had this garden made as a gift for my mother, who loved white flowers. Whenever we came here, she would spend hours walking through this garden arm in arm with my father. It was her favorite place,” Cassian explained.
“It’s very beautiful. I understand why your mother loved walking through this garden so much. It’s so lovely that I would also want to walk through it every day,” Abril replied.
“I’m glad you like it and that you’re feeling better,” Cassian said.
“Feeling better?” Abril questioned.
“During the meal, you seemed very sad and lost in thought,” Cassian observed.
“I wasn’t sad, just had my mind elsewhere,” Abril clarified.
“Can I know what’s bothering you so much?” Cassian asked.
Abril caressed the soft petals of some nearby white roses and said, “I was just wondering what will become of me when I manage to get pregnant. Will His Majesty continue to be as kind as he is now, or will he forget about me again?”
Cassian had thought that Abril’s sadness was simply because his brother wasn’t there, but it seemed her thoughts were deeper and more complex than he had imagined. “I don’t think my brother will do any of those things. He truly cares about you, and I believe his feelings for you are stronger than you think.”
“Why does everyone say the same thing?” Abril asked.
“The same thing? What do you mean by that?” Cassian inquired.
“Everyone talks about the love His Majesty feels for me, but that’s not true. I’m aware that my marriage is something His Majesty hates. He’s just enduring it all to have an heir. To him, I’m not important, just a vessel to carry his child. That’s why he takes care of me,” Abril explained.
“That’s not true, Abril. I know my brother, and I know his feelings for you are not a lie. When he’s with you, his eyes shine, and he genuinely smiles, something he hasn’t done in a long t?me. When he’s with you, he looks happy,” Cassian insisted.
Believing that the king’s feelings were real made Abril happy, but she was also afraid of building a love story in her head and someday realizing that none of it was real, that he didn’t love her and never would, just as he had said on their wedding night when he refused to be with her. Those words were etched in her mind.
“I will never treat you as my wife. I will never touch your disgusting body. You will have no place in my bed, and you will never have my heart.”
She knew he had only started being kind because she was the vessel that would carry his child, that he had only touched her body and shared his bed because he was forced to do so. That’s why she couldn’t believe he had fallen in love with her. Abril smiled, but it was a smile filled with sadness and loneliness.
“To be honest, I doubt that’s true,” she said.
“Why can’t you believe that my brother’s feelings for you are real?” Cassian asked.
“Because I know they’re not, and I don’t want to believe in an illusion and get hurt later. If he forgets about me again like he did for four years, it will be less painful for me if I don’t believe he loves me,” Abril explained.
Cassian realized that Abril had deep wounds in her heart, and at that moment, he understood that Alessandro was responsible for one of them, perhaps the deepest of all. He had hurt her heart with his words, preventing Abril from fully opening her heart.
Abril continued walking, and Cassian followed in silence, not knowing what to say. He couldn’t find words to heal her wounded heart.
After walking a bit, Abril stopped in front of a statue of a beautiful woman. “She is very beautiful. Who is she?” she asked.
“She is my mother. I told you my father had this garden made for her. The statue is proof of that,” Cassian replied, looking at the statue with a certain sadness in his eyes.
Abril realized that she knew very little about her husband’s family. She knew their parents were dead and that her father had been partly responsible, but nothing more. She was completely unaware of the details. The statue was so well-carved that it was a marvel, as if she had turned to stone. The details were truly astonishing. She said, “In every detail of this garden, you can feel how much love your father had for your mother. She must have been very fortunate to have a husband who loved her so deeply.”
“Yes, she was,” Cassian replied.
Alessandro spent the entire day helping to search for the pirates threatening the merchant ships leaving the port. The issue of the slaves deeply bothered him; he would not allow innocent people to be treated as commodities. When he returned to the palace, it was late; dinner had been over for hours. He went directly to his room, and in the hallway, Alessandro encountered Cassian, who seemed to be waiting for him.
“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you asleep?”
“I’d like to talk to you for a moment.”
“About what?”
Cassian opened the door to his room and said, “Come in, and I’ll tell you.”
Alessandro followed him and asked, “What’s the mystery?”
“It’s about the princess.”
“Has something happened to her?”
“Not exactly, it’s just that she seemed sad.”
“Why?”
“She thinks that once she gives birth to your heir, you will ignore her and forget about her, just as you did for the past four years.”
“That won’t happen again. She is too valuable to us. She must stay close where I can see her and ensure nothing happens to her.”
“Is she important to you because of her magic or because you love her?”
“Her magic is unique; I couldn’t let anything happen to her. Our peace won’t last; King Venobich has started making his moves. She can be of great help.”
“Is that the only reason, brother?”
“What other reason would there be?”
“Perhaps because you love her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Cassian. If that’s all you had to say, I’ll go rest. I’ve had a tough day.” “Lessan, I hope you don’t regret your words later when you realize she is much more than just a vessel, as she said.”
“I never said that.”
“Well, your words make it seem like that’s what you think. The princess believes that she is just the vessel you will use to carry your child, someone useful, a tool you will eventually forget.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“Yes, she has always been alone, always forgotten and hated by everyone. Don’t hurt her more than she already is.I won’t forgive you if you do.”
“Sometimes I think you care too much about my wife. Are you in love with her?”
Cassian wanted to shout yes at that moment, but he knew it would only create a rift between them, so he swallowed his words.
“It’s not that, brother, but she is a good person, someone who doesn’t deserve to be hurt or used as if she were a tool.”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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